Alicia "JoJo" Starbuck (born February 14, 1951,

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

), is an American

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

. With partner

Kenneth Shelley Kenneth Gene Shelley (born October 4, 1951) is an American figure skater who competed in both singles and pairs. As a single skater, he won the 1972 United States Figure Skating Championships and placed 4th at the 1972 Winter Olympics. His highes ...

, she is a three-time

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

pair skating Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...

champion (1970–72) and two-time Olympian (1968, 1972).

Early life and youth career

Starbuck was raised in

Downey, California Downey is a city located in Southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is considered part of the Gateway Cities. The city is the birthplace of the Apollo space program. It is also the home of ...

and attended

Cerritos College Cerritos College is a public community college in Norwalk, California. It offers degrees and certificates in 87 areas of study in nine divisions. History The college was founded in 1955. It was named after Rancho Los Cerritos, a local r ...

, along with

. She was first paired with Shelley for a show in 1959, when they were small children. They started training with coach

John Nicks John Allen Wisden Nicks (born 22 April 1929) is a British figure skating coach and former pair skater. With his sister, Jennifer Nicks, he is the 1953 World champion. As a coach, his skating pupils have included Peggy Fleming, pairs team Tai B ...

at the Arctic Blades FSC in 1961.

Championship career

In their first year of senior competitions, at age 16, they qualified to compete at the

1968 Winter Olympics The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games (french: Les Xes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 18 February 1968 in Grenoble, France. Thirty-seven countries participated. Frenchm ...

. Both Starbuck and Shelley attended Downey High School, where they performed off-ice lifts with the cheerleading squad,"A Gutsy, Gutsy Team/Starbuck & Shelley", ''Skating Magazine'', January 1970. and

Long Beach State College California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

. Like Shelley, Starbuck was a skilled singles skater. While Shelley went on to win the national title in singles as well as pairs in 1972, Starbuck retired from singles competition in 1968. Success became found though in pairs. With Shelley became they did three-time

champion (1970–72) and two-time Olympian (1968, 1972). In the first Olympics they finished 13th, in the second 4th.

Later career

After turning professional, Starbuck made occasional appearances skating singles in addition to continuing to skate pairs with Shelley. She partnered

John Curry John Anthony Curry, (9 September 1949 – 15 April 1994) was a British Figure skating, figure skater. He was the 1976 1976 European Figure Skating Championships, European, Figure skating at the 1976 Winter Olympics, Olympic and World Figure Sk ...

in the "Tango Tango" number from his show ''Ice Dancing''. Starbuck performed for a short time with the Ice Capades. From 1976-83, she was married to football

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Terry Bradshaw Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). Since 1994, he has been a television sports analyst an ...

. She was Bradshaw's second wife. During this time she also became well known as the face of Cup of Noodles, introducing millions of Americans for the first time to ramen. Starbuck currently is affiliated with the Rink at Rockefeller Plaza a position she has had since the 1990s. She had a minor career as an actress, performing in ''

New York Stories ''New York Stories'' is a 1989 American anthology film consisting of three segments with the central theme being New York City. The first is ''Life Lessons'', directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Richard Price (writer), Richard Price and star ...

'' (1989), ''

The Cutting Edge ''The Cutting Edge'' is a 1992 American sports-romantic comedy film directed by Paul Michael Glaser and written by Tony Gilroy. The plot is about a wealthy, spoiled figure skater (played by Moira Kelly) who is paired with an injury-sidelined i ...

'' (1992), and the TV movie ''Beauty and the Beast: A Concert on Ice'' (1996). She continues to coach and choreograph. Starbuck lives in

Madison, New Jersey Madison is a borough in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 16,937. Located along the Morris & Essex Lines, it is noted for Madison's historic railroad station becoming one ...

, where she teaches at the Essex Skating Club of New Jersey."Our Coaches", Essex Skating Club website
accessed November 3, 2014.

Results

(pairs with

)

References

External links

Essex Skating Club
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Starbuck, Jojo 1951 births American female pair skaters Olympic figure skaters of the United States Figure skaters at the 1972 Winter Olympics Living people People from Madison, New Jersey World Figure Skating Championships medalists Sportspeople from Downey, California 21st-century American women